Does OpenSCAD deserve a modern Forum platform?

JordanBrown wrote
> I believe that for most mail users, images are seamlessly integrated. 
> What doesn't end up seamlessly integrated in the e-mail feed is, I
> believe, the images that originate at the forum software.  (I just
> checked, and one of the messages I recently sent with an image in it is
> shown properly on the forum.)

The Forum posts used to do inline images, and other Nabble Fora do support
them,
but I suspect they are not types with an integrated external Mailing-list.
I believe it changed when Nabble only instantiated the posts after getting
them
back from the Mailing-list, I believe that was intended to fight Spam.

If there are any Mailman V2 specialists out there, perhaps you could assist.




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[ Test message ]


JordanBrown wrote
> I believe that for most mail users, images are seamlessly integrated. 
> What doesn't end up seamlessly integrated in the e-mail feed is, I
> believe, the images that originate at the forum software.  (I just
> checked, and one of the messages I recently sent with an image in it is
> shown properly on the forum.)

Testing posting images from the forum...
First test:  can't just paste an image.

Saving the image as a file and [Insert Image]...
<http://forum.openscad.org/file/t1912/deleteme.png>
Doesn't show the image, just adds an XML-style tag.
But shows it OK in preview.



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acwest wrote
> I know I would be gone if the mailing list wasn't good enough. Forums
> require you to choose to go to the forum, choose a top to read, etc. A
> miasling list, you just read messages as they come in. I have way too many
> things I am following to put that much attention into any one thing

I get the emails, and if any of them look interesting enough, I go to the
forum to read the thread, and to possibly comment. I have sent emails to
comment, but only a very few. I have no problem dealing with fora, and if I
could only have one or the other, I would choose the forum every time. I
would also like to say that I am no millennial, having built my first
computer in 1976, 10 years after getting into the computer field as a
technician.



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[ Another test message ]

This text is *bold*.  This text is in /italics/.  The OpenSCAD main page is
here <http://openscad.org>  .



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[ And another test message. This one has "message is in HTML" checked. ] This is in bold. An image:

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Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

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Troberg wrote
OK, here's the result:
https://www.reddit.com/r/openscad/comments/l3ybcl/openscad_mailing_list/

Some interesting points, draw your own conclusions.



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Sure sounds like if we ask on a forum, people want a forum.  If we ask on a mailing list, people want a mailing list.

Troberg wrote

Troberg wrote

Also, realistically, who many active users do we have on the mailing
list?
20? 50? We may very well be looking at survivor bias, ie a skewed result
because we are only asking the people who bothered to stay. Kind of like
how
they in WW2 checked where the bullet holes were in aircraft after
missions
to see which parts to harden with more armor, which, oddly enough were
non-vital parts, because they were checking the aircraft that got home,
not
the ones that didn't make it home.

Just for to test this hypothesis, I'll ask people on the OpenSCAD
subreddit
why they are there instead of the mailing list. It would be interesting to
hear their opinion.

OK, here's the result:
https://www.reddit.com/r/openscad/comments/l3ybcl/openscad_mailing_list/

Some interesting points, draw your own conclusions.



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OK, here's the result:

https://www.reddit.com/r/openscad/comments/l3ybcl/openscad_mailing_list/

Some interesting points, draw your own conclusions.

One thing that I thought interesting was the repeated comment that they liked the "one stop shopping" aspect of reddit, that they didn't have to visit a separate forum.  That's the exact reason why I prefer a mailing list - it feeds into my primary "communications hub".

I asked earlier, but didn't get any responses, perhaps because it was at the bottom of a longer message:  Why don't forum fans use the subreddit, the Thingiverse group, or the Facebook page?  What is it that they lack that you want?

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OpenSCAD mailing list-2 wrote
> Sure sounds like if we ask on a forum, people want a forum.  If we ask
> on a mailing list, people want a mailing list.

True, but the reasons are still interesting.




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JordanBrown wrote
> One thing that I thought interesting was the repeated comment that they
> liked the "one stop shopping" aspect of reddit, that they didn't have to
> visit a separate forum.  That's the exact reason why I prefer a mailing
> list - it feeds into my primary "communications hub".

I don't really get that. I have 50 tabs open in my browser anyway, one more
or less does not matter.



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Am I missing something ? From what I can see of the Facebook page it has about 10 posts and the newest is 5 years old.  If I hit Community I get a few more recent posts but I can not see anything worth following.

Yes.  I included it only because Facebook is generally a major player, an "everybody uses Facebook, right?" choice.  (It happens that I don't, but I recognize that I'm somewhat unusual.)

The biggest problem I see with this thread is the “Someone should” line.  I think it unlikely that “someone” will come from the forum community if only because most of the members will recognise their lack of knowledge of setting up the newer tools and are invested in either writing the code or running the forum and unlikely to have the time or desire to learn yet another skill.  

Yep.  I get the impression that Michael manages the forum because, well, somebody has to, and that he doesn't want to spend any more on it than he must.

If somebody else wants to set up a forum somewhere that can do bidirectional integration with an existing mailing list, I expect that it wouldn't be a problem to get it hooked up to the mailing list - and if it works out, the old forum could be decommissioned.  (Not that I'm the person who would make such a decision.)


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caggius wrote
> The biggest problem I see with this thread is the “Someone should” line.
> I think it unlikely that “someone” will come from the forum community if
> only because most of the members will recognise their lack of knowledge of
> setting up the newer tools and are invested in either writing the code or
> running the forum and unlikely to have the time or desire to learn yet
> another skill.  

Not really, the big problem with "just do it" is paying for hosting.
Installing one of the most popular forums is more or less a
"next-next-next-finish", then plop in a logo image thing.

It's also about "not stealing the official mailing lists thunder". The user
base isn't that big, no need to split it with an unofficial forum.



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>> Sure sounds like if we ask on a forum, people want a forum.  If we ask
>> on a mailing list, people want a mailing list.
>
> True, but the reasons are still interesting.

My main reason for using the list is that the forum software does not
work well for me. I need to use a special bookmark to be able to log in,
and when I post something I get a warning that I am not on the list. In
fact, I receive most messages twice because of this nonsensical warning
(stangely enough, not all messages).

A workable forum would be in the same "communications hub" (thunderbird
in my case) if it features an RSS feed. Yes, I would need to log in into
the forum to post or respond, but I do not post that often.

If the group would use a working forum, I would definitely use it.



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Am Fri, 22 Jan 2021 11:07:19 -0700 (MST)
schrieb Vigardo <[hidden email]>:

Mails are my preferred medium of communication.
As long as I can receive the contributions as plain text mails, I see
no reason to log-in into a forum. The only exception for me would be
intelligent software to search the online archives. But so far I
haven't found anything like it anywhere.
It may be that I'm just too stupid when searching.

My two cent.

Peter


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xgarb wrote
> B) Click button to install Discourse
> https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/discourse

Does it *require* an app to use it? If so, I'm pretty sure that would be a
deal breaker for a lot of people. I know it would be for me.





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Discourse works just fine in a web browser.

On Wed, Jan 27, 2021, at 4:53 PM, lar3ry wrote:
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